Sharston Remembered

Let me take you back to a time when there was a winking light at the crossroads of Park Road and Altrincham Road, about 1926. How many of you can remember it? Halfway up the road towards Altrincham lies Sharston in the Bucklow area of Northenden. The first building you came to then was a large farm with about 60 head of cattle. It had three milk rounds, Gatley, Cheadle and Northenden. The farm was owned by Richard Shenton. That was on the right hand side and on the left was another farm, Moor Farm, owned byT.H.Toogood.

Now we came to Sharston Hall, built by Robert Clay around 1880. They had the bleach works at the then top of Councillor Lane, near Demmings Road. Afterwards the hall was taken over by the Henriques family who had a staff of about 25. There was a chef, butler, chambermaids and gardeners. I remember Mr. Henriques walking from the hall to Gatley Station every day with a red carnation in his lapel. Where the highway depot now stands was the home of the head gardener. The front of the hall looked across the parkland and in the distance you could see Northenden station.
I remember on Wednesdays you could go from Northenden Station to Douglas in the Isle of Man for ten shillings, leaving at eight o'clock in the morning. You would arrive back late at night with about four hours stay on the island. A little way up the road was the lodge where the butler lived. It has now been pulled down and replaced by offices. There were plenty of hares and rabbits in the hall grounds in those days.

We are now at the corner of Woodhouse Lane where there used to be four small cottages. The tenants of these cottages worked on the farms. There were three farms down the lane, Walker's, Royal's and Shenton's. It was very good farmland around that time and when the corn was cut it was stacked into cocks and left until three church bells had rung. That meant three Sundays had passed before it was ready to be threshed.

Further up the road was Neild's TeaRooms. This was a large house set back quite a few yards off the main road. You could have weddings and parties there. Past here, where the traffic lights are now, was the Day School. It was built about 1870 and children used to come from all the surrounding farms and cottages to be taught. This was all there was in the hamlet of Sharston until you came to Wythenshaw Hall, the seat of the Tatton family.